


Dude, Being Undead Straight Up Sucks

by TheBridgeIntoYourMind



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Gore, I have a terrible sense of humor, This is dark and gross, Zombies, because halloween that's why, undead domesticity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-23
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-08-24 07:35:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8363392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBridgeIntoYourMind/pseuds/TheBridgeIntoYourMind
Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world, Kylo Ren is dead. Except that he's not.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Well, this is just something I wrote because I'm really freaking pumped for Halloween. I'm expecting there to be 7-8 chapters in this, and I'll (hopefully) be updating daily leading up to Halloween. Enjoy my terrible sense of humor!!!
> 
> (THIS HAS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF GORE AND OTHER NASTY STUFF. IF YOU CAN'T WATCH ZOMBIE MOVIES, DON'T READ THIS)

Being dead was ok. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t exactly terrible the way most people thought. Dying, however, hurt like a bitch. To Kylo, at least. That may have been because he was mauled by a giant, skeletal zombie with skin stretched taught over its spindly body and disfigured face. At least it didn’t last long. But then, it might have. He didn’t really remember much about his life. He vaguely remembered gunshots and fighting and people in uniforms. If he thought hard enough, he could remember a name. Someone called the General. It didn’t really matter much. He was dead, and it was best not to dwell on the past.

His clumsy, overly large body stumbled down the dank, seemingly endless corridors of cold gray concrete. Water dripped from long-since ruptured pipes in an agonizing patter. The moans of the newly turned echoed through the halls, their voices raw and pitiful as they cried out in hunger. Kylo continued along a familiar path, the smell of putrid flesh insidiously growing as he neared the center chambers where the alpha zombie known as Snoke resided.

Contrary to what most of the living thought, not all zombies became mindless idiots. The virus affected everyone differently. Sometimes, on very rare occasions, the virus wouldn’t do as much damage as it normally would, leaving the infected with some semblance of their former selves. Those with milder infections retained more of their intelligence, and their appetites weren’t as powerful. Every now and then, someone retained their memories. Those people didn’t last long. It’s easier to be a monster when you can’t recognize humanity.

In addition to possessing the aforementioned greater-than-average mental capacities, Snoke was also abnormally large and strong. This lead to him establishing dominance among the other undead. The pale beast created itself a dynasty. It strategically turned the physically and mentally strong, and conscripted them into serving him. He would send out his legions to hunt humans and bring them to his nest. Snoke would gather the masses of flesh and bodies and distribute tiny portions to the horde, all while hiding away the majority of it to gorge himself upon. No one questioned it. Usurpers would be-well, they’re already dead, so not killed. Maybe destroyed? Anyways, Snoke was the biggest baddest zombie there, and traitors would be killed--for real.

Kylo pushed through the heavy steel doors that led to Snoke’s chambers. He was immediately struck by the disgusting odor of rotting bodies. His face curled behind his mask, and he had to stop himself from choking on the scent. The chamber was the size of an airplane hangar, with high, echoing ceilings and a cold slab floor. Maybe it was an airplane hangar, once. In his mind, he sat in the co-pilot seat of a plane. He looked out the window and saw a vast expanse of sky. Beside him, a man with greying hair wearing a weathered leather jacket smiled at him.

Kylo shook the vision from his mind. The memories would kill him if Snoke didn’t first.

In the center of the chamber lay Snoke’s nest. ‘Nest’ might not be the best word to describe it here. It was a mountainous ring of corpses at various stages of decomposition. Towards the outer ring were mangled, gory piles of flesh, waiting to be devoured. As one grew closer to the center, the meat slowly turned into piled of bones, stripped clean with their marrow sucked from them. In the very center, camouflaged among the skeletons, sat Snoke, tearing the flesh from a thigh bone.

Wet, smacking sounds grew louder as Kylo approached. His body froze at the crunch of a fragile bone beneath his feet. Snoke jolted, his body poised to attack.

“Snoke, I have information to the whereabouts of the camp of the living. We may be able to invade the camp and procure the documents you seek.” came Kylo’s voice, distorted by his mask. Snoke’s body relaxed as he rose to face Kylo.

“You have done me well. Remove your mask, there is no need to hide what you are from me.” With a hiss, Kylo revealed a his gaunt, but otherwise intact face. His dark hair was long and fell in matted clumps around his pale face.

“My apprentice,” Snoke began. “You have served me loyally, but I must ask; do you remember your life?”

Kylo hesitated before replying.

“Sometimes, master. Only snippets. But I block it to the best of my ability. I wish only to serve you, and I have no doubt that under your guidance that I can erase my memories.”

Snoke considered him, making a noise that may at one time had been a hum, but now simply resonated as a rattle in his concave chest.  


“Do you know why I do not allow memories here?” Snoke questioned. “It is for the good of the horde. You have seen what happens when people remember, haven’t you? They begin to question their loyalties. They hold onto their pasts. They try to return to those whom they had once loved. But there are only two outcomes of this. One, the living kills them. Or two, they kill the living.

“The living fear us, Kylo Ren. You know that well. But sometimes, they are sentimental. They believe that they can change the undead, cure us, or at least make us more like them. They take one of the undead into their homes. They keep him behind locked doors. They feed him rats and other vermin, a poor substitute for human flesh. They starve him of the one thing that could truly sustain him.

“This ultimately culminates in the undead becoming feral. In their savage state, they turn on the living. They eat them alive while they beg for mercy. Once sated, the undead realizes what he has done. He cannot go on for an eternity always remembering what he has done. Who has betrayed. And so he kills himself. He wanders to the nearest community of humans and he plays the part of the witless, ravenous beast. He lets them take fire.” Kylo stared at the bones which lie at his feet.

“Do you see now, apprentice? There is no point in remembering. You would be unable to stop yourself from killing what was once your family.” Kylo’s brow furrowed at the mention of his family. “And in the end, you would die too. In this world, it is us or them, and I need every asset if my kind are to reign victorious.”

“I understand, master.”

“Good. You will gather a horde and attack the human settlement at sundown. Do not fail me, my apprentice.”

The implications of his failure reverberated through him as he donned his mask and lumbered away from the nest. Questions nagged relentlessly at his mind, how did Snoke know that it was family he remembered? If Snoke thought him susceptible to sentiments, why keep him here? He shoved the questions to the back of his mind. He could not afford the risks which came from it. He gathered a horde and prepared to strike.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no clue what I'm doing so I hope you guys like it!

The cold air of the night bellowed across the desolate wasteland. Sand whipped across Rey’s face as her scarf was nearly blown off by the unforgiving winds. Silvery moonlight illuminated the vast sea of sand, with the occasional glimmer betraying the location of scrap metal or broken down machinery from wars long since fought, waiting to be scavenged. Tonight was particularly bountiful. As she drove her speeder over the mountainous dunes, Rey saw the unmistakable outline of a tank peeking out of the sand just a few hundred yards away.

Gliding over the sand in her speeder, she assessed her situation. Tanks were often bursting with scraps to be traded, and, if one were very lucky, you could find ration packs and first aid supplies kept inside as well. But that was only if you were lucky. If you were unlucky you could find that it had already been stripped bare. If you were _extremely_ unlucky you could find yourself face to face with a starving zombie who’d been trapped inside. And, of course, if you were both incredibly unlucky _and careless_ , you could find yourself trapped inside of the tank with starving zombies.

Rey couldn’t control her luck, that was evident by her current occupation as a wasteland scavenger, but she wasn’t stupid. As she neared the tank, she gradually decreased her speed, the sound of the engine quieting so not to alert any potential foe. She turned off her speeder and set an alarm to notify her if some opportunist scavenger happened to come by while she was exploring. Climbing off her speeder, she made a quick assessment of the tank. The bottom half of it was submerged in sand, and when she tentatively put her foot on top of it, it held its place rather than sinking. It was likely that the tank was abandoned and the dessert winds gradually buried it over the years. Now to figure out why it was abandoned.

Softly climbing atop of the machine, she found a hatch in the top to allow entrance. She reached for the circular handle and turned with all of her might. It was rusted shut. That was a good sign, it meant other scavengers hadn’t picked it clean. But that didn’t matter if she couldn’t open the damn thing. There was also the issue of what she would find inside. Would there be zombies? If there were, would they still be animated, or would they have already starved into nothingness?

After several painstaking attempts, she managed to open the hatch. Her heavy pants echoed throughout the metal shell as she grabbed her flashlight from her satchel and quickly scanned the inside. So far nothing had reached out to grab her. She grabbed a rock and dropped it inside, experimentally. The noise clanged throughout the tank, but nothing else stirred. Still, she readied her staff as she climbed down into the bowels of the tank.

She held her flashlight in front of her and slowly turned in a circle to evaluate her surroundings. In the corner lie two skeletons dressed in military fatigues. Both were crumbled heaps, their bones still intertwined from when they died holding one another. Upon closer inspection, she saw that one held a pistol in its hand and had a hole in its head. This wasn’t particularly surprising. There were two likely scenarios of what had happened; They were trapped in the tank and decided to go quickly rather than starving to death, or they were infected, and couldn’t stand the idea of becoming what they were trying to fight. At least they died together.

Rey shivered as she moved away, there was no time to weep for the dead. As she was turning away, something that one of the skeletons was holding caught her eye. A radio. Radios were invaluable. Rey herself didn’t have any need for it, but just the parts could go for dozens of portions. The batteries were likely drained years ago, but she turned it on anyway, if only to entertain her curiosity. She jumped as the sound of static perforated the metal hull. A smile spread across her face as she tuned it to random frequencies. Nothing but static. Oh well, at least she’d get extra portions for working batteries. She placed the radio in her satchel and went to search for anything else that could prove useful.

She was digging through a first aid kit when a strange, disembodied voice filled the air around her.

_“… I repeat; we are under attack. A horde has attacked the Resistance base in Kelvin Ravine.”_

The radio.

Kelvin Ravine was just a couple miles from here. Zombies didn’t usually come to the dessert; there wasn’t much life for them to sustain themselves. Normally they stayed near the skeletal remains of large cities, or sometimes in wooded areas where they could prey upon animals. The irony of the dessert is that it was relatively safe from zombies, because its inhabitants were safe from little else.

She weighed her options. It was best if she returned to her junkyard. It was isolated, and there were layers of gates and traps to protect her if the horde meandered their way towards her. She could continue listening in by her radio and when the zombies had cleared, she could scavenge. A twinge of guilt came from her stomach at the thought of picking through the carnage like a vulture so soon after tragedy.

Her heart tugged at her and told her to go and help, but what could she do? She was just a scavenger with nothing more than a staff and her speeder. But then, she was also inside a well preserved tank. It didn’t work now, but maybe she could make it. No matter what, she had to try. Without a second’s hesitation she got to work on starting up the tank again.

...

He was surrounded by fire. From behind his mask he could see ash and soot and smell the char of burning corpses, both from his horde and from the Resistance. He continued to stride through the chaos, focused solely on retrieving the documents for Snoke. All around him were undead flinging themselves relentlessly upon terrified soldiers. The soldiers shot wildly at the zombies, their aim clumsy and ineffective as the zombies tackled them, ripping into their throats.

Kylo approached just as the horde pushed through the doors of the main building. Screams erupted from all around him, but still he went onwards. Amidst the calamity, he went unnoticed, marching through halls and pushing against the flow of evacuating humans. He went deeper and deeper into the base, down countless stairs and through countless corridors into the bunkers.

At last he reached his destination. He swung the door to the bunker open to reveal a wizened old man fighting off a zombie with a crowbar. It was so absurd it was almost funny. Kylo growled a command to the zombie, who reluctantly acquiesced and backed away from the man. The man shook as the masked figure calmly approached.

“Give me the files,” commanded Kylo. The man simply stared. Kylo lunged forward and grabbed the man by his throat.

“Give. Me. The. Files. I will not ask again.”

“Forgive me, it’s not often that you see one of the living commandeering the undead.”

“Who said I was living?” Kylo said, tilting his head to the side. The old man gulped as he gathered his wits.

“I’m afraid you’re too late, the files have already been given to keeper, and they’re on their way to Skywalker. There’s nothing I can do.” Skywalker… Why did that name sound so familiar?

“A keeper, you say? Like the one currently hiding behind that grate?” He mocked as he nodded his head to a large vent, its grate lopsided.

The old man’s eyes widened and he stuttered out a gasp.

“Spare me the theatrics. Did you really not think that I couldn’t hear your heartbeats as soon as I stepped into this room? Did you not think I couldn’t smell your sweat and fear?” It was a lie, he had seen the crooked grate and the way the man’s eyes flickered towards it. It was an effective one, however. “Bring me the files before I have my… _associate_ bring it for me.” The old man hesitated.

“Your messenger must be awfully young to fit into the air ducts, how about I send in a zombie to play?” He began to growl and nod towards the other zombie.

“NO! Don’t, please don’t. Leave Bebe out of this, I beg you!”

“Bring me the files, old man.”

The old man walked to the grate. Nudging it open just enough that Kylo could see a small, pale child with round cheeks and carroty hair. After whispering a few words, the wide-eyed child slipped a USB drive into the old man’s hand. The man straightened himself and turned to face Kylo once more.

“I don’t know what use you will get of this, but realize that though you may have won this battle, you have not won the war.”

“Wise words from a cowardly old man.” Kylo lunged forward and snatched the drive from his hands. At that moment, an explosion from above shook the bunker. Dust came down from the ceiling, coating the old man’s shocked face. Kylo was willing to bet that whatever happened, it wasn’t good for either of them.

He called the zombie to his side and began to make his way out of the base before the whole came down around him. Well, he began to make his way out, but before he was two steps out of the room, the old man used his metal bar and stabbed his companion/thrall/guard dog through its soft skull. Kylo was in action before the man had finished with the first.

As the man swung his crowbar, Kylo grabbed it mid-swing and hit the man across the face with it. The man stumbled back against the wall, and Kylo wrapped his hands around his thin neck, and squeezed. The man’s face was turning blue as the crazy bastard started smiling. Kylo sneered and squeezed tighter, wondering what in the hell would be so amusing about this.

He felt a short stab in his neck, and the world fell away from him. He fell to the ground and was vaguely aware of the child from the vent searching his body for the drive. So that’s what was so damn funny.

He heard shouting from all around him. The child still hadn’t found the USB, still hidden within an inner pocket of his robes. The old man wearily brought himself up from where he had slumped against the wall and dragged the child by her arm up the stairs and away from him.

Kylo clumsily rose to his hands and knees. His coordination and fine motor skills weren’t great, being undead. But after getting drugged by whatever the hell that kid had given him, he felt like his eyes and the rest of his body were in two different locations. He resorted to crawling up the stairs on his stomach, not able to raise his head without feeling like it would drop.

He was on his way out of the building when he heard that name, the one that had been haunting him; the General. He forced himself to turn to see who had said it, if only to confirm the General was real, and not something that his own mind had created.

Another explosion. He slowly rolled his head in the direction from which it came, and-

_Holy shit, is that a fucking tank?_

A block of concrete hit his head, his helmet the only thing protecting his skull from being crushed. It did not however, protect him from completely blacking out. Surrounded in carnage and fire. Well, he may be actually dying, but at least he got the USB. 

...

The last of the people and zombies were clearing out. Rey had managed to dislodge the tank and get it running again after what seemed like an eternity with the radio sending constant distress calls. When she had finally arrived, the problem became evident. The walls surrounding the base were twenty-foot high slabs on concrete reinforced with steel, with a single entrance into it. While this is very effective in stopping people from getting in, it’s even more difficult to get them out when the entrance is plugged by a horde of zombies.

A horde of zombies doesn’t last long when being crushed by a tank.

Once she managed to break through the gate, she stopped the tank where it was and began to load artillery shells. She screamed a warning to the people to get away from the wall before she took fire, creating a hole big enough for people to escape. The wall would take months to rebuild, but the people would live.

She poked her head out of the tank to see if there were any more survivors. And maybe there were some tools she could scavenge. She figured that if she saved dozens of lives, she could take a few ration packs and call it even. The area was mostly deserted. Everyone who hadn’t evacuated was dead.

She grabbed her staff and climbed out of the tank. Amidst the smoldering ruins, there wasn’t much to be found. She was ready to leave when she heard something, a soft groan. She readied her staff, but sought out the source to see if it was a survivor. Underneath a pile of rubble, she could barely make out a masked figure.

_“Help…me.”_

She sheathed her staff and began to dig the figure out. The man was huge, nearly six and a half feet tall and was quite heavy, as she learned when she began to drag him out. Now what? She had a giant, possibly dying person and no medic for miles. She had no clue where the Resistance had gone to. There was only one option other than leaving him to die. She hauled him into the tank and took him to her junkyard.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has given kudos, commented, or bookmarked. It means the world to me and keeps me motivated. This chapter was a bitch to write, but I hope you guys like it.

The world was spinning. He couldn’t hear over the roar of the helicopter as it hovered above the field. A machine gun from behind the barricade spit ammunition in a sputtering rhythm. He ran towards it. A rotting corpse tackled him from behind and he stumbled to the ground. The zombie tried to bite into his shoulder, but his body armor protected him. He wriggled underneath the zombie, desperate to break free. He elbowed the creature in its face, causing it to recoil. He scrambled to his feet and shot the zombie in its skull.

“BEN!” A voice shouted. He turned to identify the voice. Approximately one hundred yards away, a man with greying hair leaned out of the now grounded helicopter, pistol in hand.

“GET DOWN!” He hit the ground half a second before it opened fire above his body. He crawled on his stomach through the grassy field, towards the helicopter. He heard a scream and an ungodly roar over the sound of the machine gun. He froze, and turned to see the albino monster.

It was nightmarish. Nearly seven feet tall, its translucent skin stretched taught across its spindly body. The machine gun unleashed hundreds of rounds into its chest, but it only angered it further. It sprinted forwards, directly into the spray. It climbed the barricade and reached behind the machine gun, grabbing the operator by the throat. It lifted him into the air before pummeling him into the ground with the gruesome crack of breaking bones.

If he could just get a clear shot, he could take that thing down. They wouldn’t have to worry about it ever again. Changing his course, he turned and crawled on his stomach to an area behind some sand bags. He pulled his rifle off his back and took aim.

He took a slow, steady breath. He looked down the scope and concentrated on the beast’s head. One good shot, and that thing would be gone for good.

One…Two…Three…

He missed by a hair.

The beast roared and lunged towards him, pulling him in the air by the straps of his armor. The man from the helicopter screamed and came running, shooting wildly at the pale creature. The creature turned its head towards the man and gave a low rattle within its chest. He took the opportunity to unlatch himself from his body armor and run.

He didn’t make it ten feet before the creature had hold of him again, pinning him to the ground. He tried to break free, but the creature dug its foul mouth into the flesh of his abdomen. He screamed, his voice raw as the creature sank its teeth deeper into his side.

The man tried to intervene once more, with tears in his eyes. He turned his head to look at the man.

“GET OUT OF HERE! IT’S TOO LATE, JUST GO!” He heard himself scream. The man stood there, staring until a large man, covered in body hair dragged him away to the helicopter.

The pain began to fade as he bled out. The world around him blurred and spun. His life didn’t flash before his eyes the way people often described dying, but instead his recollection began to fade away, lulling him into a peaceful stupor.

…

Kylo jolted awake. He was gasping. His heart was pounding… His heart was pounding? Slowly pushing himself upright, the first thing he noticed is that his head really fucking hurt. And just to make matters worse, he had no clue where he was. He was also hungry. Extremely hungry. He hadn’t been hungry since, well, he couldn’t remember. He’d always had to force himself to eat animals just so that his body wouldn’t catabolize.

He lied still, staring into nothing. What the hell was going on? He placed his hand on his heart, and felt it slowly cease to beat. His pain dispersed and his hunger faded.

_The drug. Whatever they gave me caused this._

Kylo’s frazzled mind slowly put together an idea of what was on that file.

He stood slowly, taking in his surroundings. He was in a small, ramshackle room filled with bits of scraps here and there. On the floor was a thin sleeping pad and a ratty blanket. On the floor, next to his makeshift bed lay his mask. How had he gotten here? He tried to piece together what had happened before, his memory disorganized and blurry.

He was at the Resistance base. He was getting files for Snoke. His hand quickly reached into the inner pocket of his robe, and he let out a heavy sigh when he felt it in his hand. Then that brat had injected him with… something. After that, everything blurred. There were explosions. He’d hit his head. And then some girl managed to pull him from the rubble and take him back to wherever he was now and let the drug run its course.

His thoughts turned back to the files and the drug. Whatever it was, it wasn’t truly effective. He was back to normal. Well, as normal as an undead could be. But it had packed a hell of a punch. Even if it only worked temporarily, it could incapacitate a zombie, make him closer to human. If something like that were used on Snoke, it’d be his Achilles Heel. It was the Resistance’s only effective weapon, and it had to be destroyed.

He pulled on his helmet and inspected the room for exits. Besides the rusting metal door, held closed by a system of chains and locks, the only other exit was a poor excuse for a window. It was a tiny hole cut into the scrappy metal walls of the room, just above eye-level. It was covered by a sliding cover to keep out the elements. And it also did a good job of keeping any guests, or possibly prisoners, in.

Was he a prisoner? The girl had saved his life, but just how much of that was from the goodness of her heart? It didn’t matter, he needed to get out of here with as little interference as possible. He’d find his way to the Resistance base and then track his way back from there. Simple.

He made his way to the door, wincing at the sound of his footsteps on the creaking floor. The whole room was made of scraps; it was a wonder that it wasn’t blown away by the dessert winds. The door was held closed by chains, but wasn’t locked. Not a prisoner, then. He pushed the door open, the chains rattling and making an ungodly amount of noise. Stealth was not going to be easy.

He peered his head out of the door frame and did a sweep of the area. His room was at the end of a narrow hallway. Looking down the corridor, there were two other doors on his right side. At the other side of the hall was what looked like the top of a rickety stair case. He checked the two rooms, first. The first room seemed like some kind of pantry. Canteens of water and a pitifully low number of ration bars were in there. In addition, there were blankets, an ancient looking gas lantern, and a first aid kit. No exits.

The second room, which appeared to be a child’s, was more interesting. A low cot piled with ratty blankets was pushed to the side. A handmade doll, decked in the bright orange of a pilot’s flight suit sat perched on the bed. Next to it, was a Resistance pilot’s helmet. He scoffed. He was about the leave the room, when a step ladder hidden in the corner caught his eye. What could they need a step ladder for in this tiny room? He looked up, and there it was. Cut into the ceiling was a trapdoor. It was obviously made for someone far less broad than he, but it’d work.

He reached upwards and pushed the board away. He was tall enough that he didn’t need the ladder to get in. He grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up. After getting his top half over, he slung his legs over, pulling himself on his knees and face-to-face with a staff.

“What are you doing?” questioned the girl, her low voice decorated with a peculiar accent.

“Well, that seems rather obvious, doesn’t it? I was trying to go outside.” The girl rolled her eyes.

“There was a staircase down the hall, if you really want to leave. I wouldn’t recommend it, considering I just saved your life.” Definitely not a prisoner, just a very well protected patient.

“I see. I thank you for your help, but I need to leave. Where are we relative to the Resistance Base?”

She lowered her staff before replying.

“Around fifteen miles north. I don’t know how much you remember, but the base was invaded by a horde nearly three days ago.” Three days. He was out for three days, and the drug had affected him for that long.

“How did you get me here? I need transport back to that base as soon as possible,” he said as he rose to his feet.

“You can’t go now, you’re too weak. You need to rest.” He ignored her and looked out about his surroundings. The shack was in the center of a wall-enclosed junkyard. The wall itself was maybe fifteen feet high, with steel beams as supports with barbed wire tracing along the top. Within it were heaps of scrap metal, spread in piles according to some system of organization that he couldn’t understand. There was a work bench, a speeder, and a tank. So she was the one driving the tank. But that begs the question, who the hell was she?

He jumped down through hole, landing on his feet. The girl followed after, pulling at his arm.

“It’s too dangerous for you. You should’ve seen your face, for a while I thought you might be dead.” He had to stop himself from laughing at that, but simply brushed her off. He continued his path, hoping that she would take the hint.

“The dessert is too dangerous for you; you don’t have any water or rations. You don’t even know where you’re going!” He walked down the stairs into what looked like a workshop. He listened to her huff and stomp as he walked straight out the door and towards the speeder.

“Wait, don’t!” Came the girl’s frenzied voice as he climbed on the back of the speeder. “If you turn on the ignition without disabling the locking mechanism it will- “Kylo’s body convulsed as he fell off the speeder.

“-shock you…” She finished, her voice flat and rather tired. She let out a sigh and began to drag him back into the house, opting to bring a bedroll downstairs rather than luging him upstairs.

By the time she had her guest settled in, the sun was beginning to fall. She retired to her tiny room and sank into her bed, gazing through her skylight as the sky turned from burning orange, to deep indigo, and finally to a curtain of black, perforated with silver stars. She wondered if her family was looking at it too. She held her doll closely to her chest, and fell into a deep sleep, dreaming that it was her family that she held in her arms.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had some SERIOUS writer's block while writing this chapter, and once I'd finally finished it, it physically pained me to see what was originally written. So, I spent a good hour or so revising it and got to a halfway decent state. As usual, I hope you all like it!

Kylo had awoken for the second time in as many days in an unfamiliar room. Well, that time is wasn't completely unfamiliar; he was in the workshop of the girl’s shack. Apparently she had decided that he was far too heavy lug his slack body upstairs. But then, she wouldn’t have had to drag him anywhere if that damn speeder of hers hadn’t electrocuted him. Although, she _had_ tried to warn him, so it wasn’t entirely her fault.

He sat up and did a quick examination of his surroundings. The room was similar to the rest of the junkyard in that it was filled with scraps. However, the workshop was considerably more organized than the yard. Underneath the staircase were boxes piled neatly on top of one another, each labeled according to its contents. A large workbench was pushed up against the back wall. The top was covered with a variety of tools, and some piece of ancient technology lay dissected on top of it.

Curiosity rose within him. He stood and made his way to the workbench. The device had a plastic case with several knobs and buttons, as well as an antenna. Wires poked out of it, and a surprisingly well preserved battery pack lay beside it. It was a radio, he deduced. He fiddled with the bent antenna instinctively, trying to place when he'd used one before.

Looking up from the radio, he noticed shallow grooves in the metal of the wall. The grooves were short lines, all parallel to one another.

_Tally marks_

As he looked around the room, he realized that it wasn’t just that wall, but the entire room covered in marks. He traced his gloved fingers softly over the gouges.

“I see you’re finally awake,” came a now familiar voice. Kylo turned to see the girl, scarf wrapped around her face and goggles covering her eyes. On her back was her staff and a large bag full of what he could only assume to be more junk. She dropped the bag, letting it hit the ground with an unceremonious clank and removed her goggles and scarf. She extended a calloused hand out to him.

“I’m Rey. Considering that I’ve had to drag you back to safety twice, we might as well know each other's names.” Kylo simply stared at her outstretched hand for a moment, before tentatively accepting.

“What, not going to tell me your name?” Kylo grunted before simply muttering “Kylo”.

“Well then, Kylo, tell me about yourself. What do you do for the Resistance?”

“I could ask you the same question. What were you doing with a tank? You’re obviously not actually with them, otherwise you wouldn’t be alone in a wasteland scrapyard.” Rey’s jaw tightened. She took a breath before continuing.

“You’re right, I’m not with the Resistance. I’m just a scavenger. I heard a distress call so I followed it to help.” Kylo’s brow furrowed beneath his helmet.

“That doesn’t explain the tank.”

“I was scavenging that thing when I heard the distress call. I fixed it up and went to help.”

“You managed to fix that thing on your own?” Not for the first time, he wondered just who the hell this girl was.

“I’ve been doing this for a long time.” Kylo contemplated this.

“Are you alone out here?” Rey’s eyes flicked to the wall behind him.

“Yes, well, not entirely. Niima outpost isn’t far away from here, and I trade scraps for portions.”

“But what about your family? You seem awfully young to have been doing this for a long time.”

“My family left me here when I was young. I don’t know why, only that they were trying to protect me. They’ll be back, someday.”

He felt his chest constrict at her words. He pitied the girl. If her parents dropped her off in the wastes, it was more likely that they simply weren’t able to feed another mouth, and left her to die on her own. The only other feasible option was that they were infected, and knew that she’d be safest in the dessert. But there was even less of a chance of them returning if that was the case. Still, he couldn’t help but admire the girl’s hopefulness. She was a flower in the dessert, simply too stubborn to give up.

“But that’s enough about me,” she said. “I want to know more about you, and don’t deflect my questions this time.” Kylo simply rolled his eyes, grateful for his mask.

“Fine, what do you wish to know?”

“Firstly, what do you do with the Resistance?”

“I’m not affiliated with the Resistance," he replied carefully. "I had some… business to attend to with one of its members, however.” Rey tilted her head to the side, and he felt his heart flutter. The drug was still in his system, then.

“Are you a mercenary?” She queried.

“Something like that.”

“Is that why you wear that mask, to remain anonymous?” He stiffened before answering.

“I wear this mask to protect myself.” That seemed to satisfy the girl.

“It’s a good thing you do. If not for that helmet, the rubble you were trapped under would’ve crushed your skull. It’s a miracle you’re alive.” A pregnant pause.

“Well,” Rey interjected into the silence. “You’re probably starving. There are ration bars upstairs in the pantry. I’d say help yourself, but I’m running somewhat low, so try and limit yourself to one portion.” It wouldn’t be an issue limiting his food intake, the problem was going to be hiding that he didn't need to eat in the first place. Still, he climbed upstairs to avoid suspicion.

“Bring me one, too!” She shouted from her work bench. Fine. All he had to do was play the role of a wayward survivor until he managed to escape. He could do that. No problem.

…

The rest of the day passed with Rey sorting through scraps and fiddling with gadgets. Bored of sitting around doing nothing, he began to assist Rey in her work. Thankfully, Rey only spoke when asking him to hand her a tool, or when she gave him instructions on how to handle certain instruments. There were large gaps of silence between their brief words. It was stiff at first, but they slowly relaxed into a companionable quiet.

Once the sun began to set, Rey put down her work and began to gather her scavenging gear.

“I’m going to head out,” she announced. “Don’t try and run off,” she added, giving him a pointed look. It wasn’t like he _could_ run off. He didn’t know where to go, and even if he did, he’d have no way to get there. Unless he took the tank, that is. But considering the fiasco with her speeder, he wasn’t all that tempted to try his luck with a tank. Who knew what that girl rigged it with?

Once she left, Kylo dug into his pocket to look at the USB drive once more. If his suspicions were right, it contained the information about whatever drug they had given him. It was a weapon in the eyes of his master, but could it also be a cure? While it had mostly worn off, there were times when his heart would beat out of the blue. The dessert heat was beginning to affect him. While working with the scavenger, there were times that he could feel heat rise to his face. He’d considered taking his mask off, but was afraid of how the scavenger--Rey would react.

But he was alone now.

He slowly reached up and pulled of his mask. Cold night air blew through the cracks in the house, caressing his skin. He inspected the ration pack which he’d taken earlier and debated whether or not he should eat it. It was dehydrated protein and it could hardly taste any worse than raw animals. He took a bite and nearly gagged. It was far, far worse than raw animals, but he forced it down anyway.

He caught a distorted glimpse of his pale reflection in a piece of sheet metal, illuminated by a dying lantern. The last time he'd seen his face was right after he’d turned. He’d still had flashing memories of his life, and the sight of his lifeless body nearly sent him into hysterics. From then on he’d worn a mask. He told both himself and his master that it was to disguise himself from the living, but he knew deep inside that it was so that he could hide from himself. He pulled on his mask to hide once more. 

The full moon was high in the clear black sky by the time Rey returned. She dropped her bag as soon as she entered through the doorway. She leaned against the wall and let out a low sigh as she slid down, exhausted.

Kylo took a moment to contemplate her. She was really quite pretty. She had big hazel eyes, golden skin, and a small, pink mouth. He shook his head at his thoughts.

_You’re dead, you dumbass. Girls don’t go for zombies._

He was still staring at her when he realized that she’d fallen asleep.

Impulsively, he stood and walked towards her before gathering her in his arms. He looked down at her face. He noted the fine spray of freckles across her nose. A sudden heart beat broke his transfixion as he moved to bring her upstairs.

He nudged the door to her room open with his foot and gently laid her on the bed. He pulled the blanket over her as she reached out, pulling him into her arms. He froze, feeling his face flush. He wasn’t sure if he could blame that on the drug.

He slowly pulled away. He stole one last glance at her, so peaceful and serene, before closing the door and heading into his own room.

…

For several days they continued in a dependable pattern. Rey would leave early in the mornings to scavenge before the sun rose, and the rest of the day they would sort through her loot, deciding what to keep and what to trade. In the early evenings, once the sun relented its heat, Rey would either head to Niima outpost to trade, or to scavenge some more. Occasionally, she did both. Those nights she would come home exhausted, barely able to drag herself to bed.

It was one of those nights again.

Rey came home and nearly collapsed. Kylo was there in just enough time to catch her before she hit the floor. Her face was flushed and her eyes unfocused. She was dehydrated in addition to being exhausted.

He carried her to her bed and immediately went to the pantry to grab a canteen of water and a ration bar. Searching frantically, he discovered that their store was completely depleted. He bolted downstairs in hopes that she'd gotten more from Niima, and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw a week’s worth of portions in her satchel.

He grabbed the bag and went directly to her room. She was curled on her side when he saw her, eyes staring glassily into nothing. He sat on the bed and propped her up against him and began to trickle water into her mouth.

At first, she was completely oblivious, causing water to dribble down her chin. But she gradually gained clarity and began to drink thirstily. After she downed a canteen, Kylo unwrapped a ration bar and broke off a bit, feeding it to her in pieces.

Once she had been fed and properly hydrated, he pulled away from her and guided her down onto her bed. He was beginning to walk away when she grabbed at his hand.

"Stay with me, please,” she pleaded weakly. He knew he shouldn't, but she was clouding his judgement. Tentatively, he sat on the side of the bed, but Rey then pulled him down beside her.

“Take off your mask, you dolt,” she chided.

He laughed for the first time he could remember. It was dark, so he reasoned there’d be no harm in taking it off, just for a little bit. He removed his mask and tossed it to the floor at the foot of the bed.

“You know,” he said, “you don’t have to faint to get my attention.” Kylo could practically hear her eyes roll.

“I did _not_ do this for your attention,” she huffed indignantly. “I’ll have you know that the only reason why I was so tired is because I’ve had to work twice as hard as normal so I can feed you.” Guilt washed over him at the thought of her doing this for him.

“Don’t worry,” she said, sensing his discomfort. “Once you’re more rested you can help me scavenge.” Kylo caught his breath and felt her tense beside him.

“Shit. I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking. Why would you want to stay here…”

“Do you,” she said in a soft voice. “Do you want to stay here, with me?”

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. He was told that he could never return to the living, but with the drug… He wasn’t human, but he was something closer. Maybe. Maybe he could return the USB to the Resistance. Maybe they could find a cure. He’d never have to see Snoke ever again…

“Do you have a family?” Rey inquired with a gentle voice. Kylo was stumped. How was he supposed to explain that yes, he probably did have a family, but he wasn’t allowed to remember them under penalty of death?

“Yes, but we’re not close.”

_Not technically a lie. Good job, Kylo. Really outstanding morals._

“You talk in your sleep, sometimes,” said Rey. “When I first rescued you, you cried out a lot. Did, did something happen to your family?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have pried.”

“It’s fine. Just go to sleep.”

And so she did. Snuggled against one another, they fell into a peaceful slumber.

…

Kylo lurched awake. Rey was screaming and had fallen off the bed. The room was still dark, Kylo suspected it was around the time that Rey started scavenging. He got off the bed and crawled blindly on the floor, searching for Rey.

“Rey! What’s wrong are you alright?” His hand connected with Rey’s knee and he heard her let out a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank God,” she sobbed. “I woke up and you weren’t breathing and your skin was like ice. I thought you’d died.” Kylo was silent as she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed into his chest. He awkwardly tried to sooth her, rubbing her back gently. She froze abruptly.

She began to pull away, eerily quiet. She brought a trembling hand to his face, only to connect with his cold, lifeless skin. She lowered her hand to feel for the pulse in his neck. The drug had worn off. He was dead, and probably would be permanently soon.

“Get. Out.” She hissed, as she pulled away. Kylo just sat there, too stunned to move.

“I SAID GET OUT!” she screamed. She stood and reached for her staff. She swung it blindly through the dark, just narrowly missing him as he skittered away. She picked up his mask from the floor and threw it at him, hitting the wall not an inch from his head.

He reached for the door and stumbled out. He barely had the time to get to his feet before she started swinging the staff at him again. Kylo blindly groped the area around him, completely lost in the dark. Rey, unfortunately, had no such problems.

Kylo had just reached the top of the stairs when Rey took a long, arcing swing at him. Instinctively, he grabbed her staff, using her momentum to throw her down the stairs.

_Oh, God… What’ve I done…_

He ran down the stairs to make sure she was still alive. He checked her pulse, which was rapid, but still there. No sign of any broken bones. She’d likely just be bruised and sore.

“Just go,” came her quiet, defeated voice.

Numbly, he walked up the stairs to retrieve his helmet. When he came downstairs again, Rey had curled herself into a ball. He pulled on his mask and walked quietly out of the house, refusing to look at her. As soon as he passed the gates of the junkyard, he ran.

…

The sun was starting to set by the time Rey crawled out of bed. She hadn’t gone scavenging at all that day. A mixture of physical and emotional pain left her bedridden. She didn't have the energy to cry. And so she just sat there, staring at the wall.

_Kylo must’ve been one of the horde who attacked the Resistance. I thought I was doing something right. I thought I was helping someone. I thought-_

She slowly but deliberately pushed her aching body out of bed. She needed to work. If she didn’t work, she’d waste away. She sat on the edge of the bed and looked around the floor for her boots. She groaned as she got on her hands and knees to search for her boots under the bed. She was grasping for the second shoe when her hand came across a small, square object.

Her brow furrowed as she pulled it out. The setting sun illuminated the room just enough for her to see that it was a USB drive, grey and inconspicuous. It wasn't hers, Kylo must have left it. She flinched at the thought of him.

_Why would a zombie need a USB drive?_

_Wait, he was at the Resistance base. What if this was why the horde attacked?_

Rey pulled on her boots. She grabbed her staff, her satchel, and her newly modified radio before she ran out into the yard. There was the tank and her speeder. She needed to get there fast, and a tank was more than likely to raise alarm. She powered on her radio, climbed on her speeder, and went in search of the Resistance.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story was supposed to be a short, nine chapter long story leading up to Halloween. It's since taken a life of its own, and I've had to add some additional chapters. Because the chapters are already so long, I won't be able to update every day because I *do* have a life (Which seems weird considering I'm writing Star Wars fanfiction). I'll still be updating as often as possible, though! So don't worry about abandoning it, I just can't stare at a word document waiting for inspiration for hours a day :P. Thank you so, so much to everyone who has given kudos or commented; without you guys; you give me the courage to keep posting.

The moon hung low in the deep blue sky. In the East, the burning orange sun rose from behind the dunes. Dawn would soon arrive. Already, Kylo began to feel himself swelter underneath his heavy robes and helmet. He debated stripping himself of his clothes, but he knew the blazing sun would scorch his skin.

He wandered aimlessly through the vast dessert. The constantly shifting sands swirled around him, blinding and confusing him, as if playing a wicked game. But he paid no mind. Whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was Rey, lying on the floor. Every howl of the wind was the sound of her speeder. Every gleaming piece of scrap from the corner of his eye was her staff, ready to strike him down once more.

He dropped to his knees. He lay in the sand and watched as the sun ascended to its place in the sky, waiting for the vultures to come devour him. There was nowhere to go. He’d been exiled from the only family he could remember. Maybe he could give the file to the Resistance. Maybe they could develop a cure and he could be with Rey once more.

_But would she forgive me for hurting her? For lying?_

He reached into his pocket, to find nothing there.

_God-fucking-dammit_

He couldn’t go to the Resistance; he had no bartering tools to keep them from striking him down as soon as he got within one hundred yards of them. But if he were to return to Snoke, what punishment would he receive for his failure? Could he even allow himself to return after knowing what it felt to be alive?

He simply basked in the sun, allowing himself to drift into the abyss of sleep.

…

Rey glided over the sand in her speeder. She had the volume on her radio dialed up as loud is it could to be heard over the sound of the engine. When they fled, they couldn't have gone too far, so for the past two hours, Rey had been sending out signals, hoping to find any survivors.

“Hello, is anyone there?” She would say into her radio. “My name is Rey. I’m looking for a Resistance base, I have something which may be important. Over.” Nothing.

She could do this. If she made her way to the old Resistance base, she might be able to find clues about where they’d gone when they fled. She made her way to Kelvin Ravine.

Soon, she arrived at the remains of the base. Days later, she could still see it smoldering. She parked her speeder just outside of the gaping hole where she’d run the tank through.

_Maybe they kept evacuation plans. If they did, they'd be in the main building._

She unsheathed her staff, ready to fight if she were to run into any unsavory company.

The area was deathly silent. She tread softly through the skeletal structures of buildings, as if the softest of noises would knock them down. Going deeper into the heart of the base, she arrived at the main building. The main doors were sealed by the piles of collapsed buildings.

She walked towards it, and ran her hands along the debris, remembering pulling Kylo out of that very spot, unsure of whether he would live or die. Technically, he was already dead.

She bit her lip and turned away. Something groaned and caught her leg. She tripped and fell face first into the ground. Turning on her stomach, she saw the grotesque upper body of a reekingly fresh zombie, its legs trapped underneath.

She easily kicked free, the zombie weak and malnourished. She grabbed her staff as she rose and stalked towards the beast. It was almost pitiful. Its glassy eyes stared unfocused into space. It moaned and purple, clotted blood dripped from its mouth. It was feral, trapped, and slowly dying. Rey took mercy through the form of her staff, digging one end into its skull.

Is that what would have become of Kylo had she not rescued him? He was so intelligent, so… _human_. Would he had regressed to this animalistic state?

No. She couldn’t think of Kylo. No matter how human he seemed, he was dead.

_And a liar._

Rey moved away from the wreckage. The front door was out of the question. She began to circle around the building the best she could, hindered by the copious heaps of smoldering scraps. And then she found the perfect entrance; a vent.

The vent was around fifteen feet up, but the chunks of concrete missing from the exterior wall made for excellent foot holds. She started climb, torturously slowly as her aching body protested every movement. Still, she hauled herself up. Once she got to the vent, she pulled off the grating with a shower of dust. She pulled her flashlight out of her satchel and surveyed the vent. It’d be a tight squeeze, but if she crawled on her stomach she’d just barely fit.

As she started to crawl her way in, her satchel caught on the side. With a grunt, she pulled out of the vent to take it off. Satchel in hand, she started to climb once more, pulling her bag in behind her. Or, she would’ve, had it not been yanked from her hands.

She yelped in surprise, and nearly fell from her spot on the wall. Her eyes darted to find the thief, and caught a glimpse of bright orange hair dashing around the corner. She dropped down from the wall, her knees and ankles screaming in pain. She limped after the thief, cursing under her breath. As she turned the corner, she stopped and scanned the area. All that stood was a low, grey building, relatively intact.

She approached it warily, staff poised to attack. She held her breath as she approached the door, listening for any sign of movement. She opened the door inch by inch and found nothing but a dimly lit armory. Weapons racks hung empty on the walls, the rifles no doubt escaped or lost along with their owners during the attack. She heard the jarring slam of the metal door behind her, and she jolted around to come face to face with the only rifle in the building. Just her luck.

The owner of the rifle, however, was far from intimidating. A young girl-maybe ten or eleven years old-with pale, chubby cheeks and bright red hair held the rifle in shaking arms.

“Where’d you get that USB?” Asked the girl with a quivering voice. Rey frowned, what did that girl know about the USB that would warrant a gun held to her face? Was she with the Resistance? And if she was, why was she here?

“I found it,” said Rey in the calmest voice she could muster. She dropped her staff and raised her hands behind her head, hoping the ease the little girl.

“What’s your name? Why are you here?” Rey asked. The girl stiffened, and pushed the muzzle of the rifle into Rey’s stomach.

“I should be asking _you_ that,” deflected the little girl.

“Alright, my name is Rey. I’m trying to figure out where the Resistance went off to so I can give them those files,” said Rey, nodding to the bag around the girl’s shoulders. “I figured they might have some evacuation plans posted somewhere.” The little girl considered her answer before lowering the gun. Rey let out a sigh of relief and dropped her hands to her side.

“My name’s BeBe,” said the little girl. “I got left behind. I don’t know where the Resistance went.” Rey’s heart sank, filled with both disappointment and empathy.

“Why did you steal my bag?” The girl shuffled her feet and stared at the ground before handing it to Rey.

“I’m sorry, I was just trying to find rations,” Rey felt her chest constrict.

“I can hardly blame you for being hungry, however there are much better way to gather food than through stealing,” Rey chided as she reached into one of the pockets of her bag and handed BeBe a ration bar.

The little girl’s eyes lit up, and Rey let out a bittersweet chuckle as she watched the girl tear away the wrapper and begin to devour the portion.

“So what’s on that USB?” Rey asked. BeBe momentarily paused her eating to give Rey a suspicious glance.

“Do you really not know?” questioned the little girl.

“I’m afraid not. I told you, I just found it,” Rey answered, somewhat concerned.

“How did you know to bring it to the Resistance?”

“I just… I just had a feeling.” That was the best answer Rey could give unless she revealed she’d been shacking up with a zombie.

“Where did you find it anyway?”

“Under my bed.” BeBe stared at Rey, bewildered, and Rey had to choke back a laugh at her expression.

“You never answered my question, what’s on it?” BeBe withdrew, her face becoming guarded.

“I’m not supposed to tell anyone…”

“You can trust me," Rey asserted. "I was going to bring it to the Resistance anyway.”

After a pause, deciding whether or not she really _could_ trust Rey, BeBe said, “Have you ever thought about curing the virus?” There was only one virus that she could be speaking of.

Rumors of a cure had been circulating since the virus first came to be. The closest they came was over thirty years ago, when a scientist named Luke Skywalker supposedly managed to cure his father, only for him to die moments afterwards. But nothing else had come of it, so Rey and the rest of the population considered it a myth.

“Well, the information on the USB isn’t a cure, it’s more like a medicine. It’ll make you feel better, but not make the virus go away. Not yet, anyway.” Rey’s thoughts immediately went to Kylo. If it could help make them more human, then maybe...

“Not yet? What’s missing?”

“I don’t know. This was just something we recovered. It needs to be sent to Luke Skywalker.”

“Luke Skywalker? I thought he was just a myth,” Rey said, astonished.

Their conversation came to an abrupt halt as the door swung open. Rey winced as the dove to the ground, hiding behind a crate of ammunition.

“Give me the gun, BeBe,” Rey hissed. BeBe looked at her with wide eyes and shook her head.

“Bebe. Give. Me. The. Gun.” She commanded, gritting her teeth. Still, she refused.

_Dammit, BeBe._

Heavy footsteps echoed throughout the room. Whoever was here had enough presence of mind to work a doorknob, so more likely than not a human. They also didn’t seem to care enough to avoid drawing attention to themselves, meaning that they were probably well armed. The footsteps grew louder as the entity drew nearer. BeBe was shaking, and looked as if she was about to cry.

Rey held her fingers to her lips, communicating to the child to be quiet. The rhythmic footfalls grew to a crescendo before stopping directly in front of their hiding place. Rey carefully peered around to evaluate the intruder. The man was huge and covered in body hair. He carried a crossbow and had bolts in a quiver around his shoulder. The man was filthy with long, greasy hair. Not exactly the friendliest appearance.

Rey turned back around to face BeBe. First she pointed towards herself. She gestured to the man and made a swinging motion. She then pointed to the door. She gave BeBe a questioning look, before BeBe gave a thumbs-up.

The man walked away to check a weapons rack. Rey rose to a crouch and maneuvered out from behind the box. She nodded to BeBe who was peeking out, ready to run. Rey crept up behind the man, rose to her feet, and took a swing at his head. He fell to the ground with what could only be described as a roar.

“RUN, BEBE!” Rey shouted as she bolted to the exit. She swung open the door, greeted by the barrel of a pistol.

“Don’t move,” said a gruff voice. The man holding the pistol, like his companion, had a rugged look to him. He had sharp features, with greying hair and hard lines texturing his face. For the second time that day, Rey had a gun in her face. This time she didn’t think she could talk her way out of it.

“Drop your weapons,” commanded the man. Rey dropped her staff, and turned her head to see BeBe drop her rifle. The other man was already on his feet, and had BeBe held by the shoulders.

“What are you doing here,” the man asked. “Are you two scavengers or something?”

“No. Well, yes, I am, but that’s not why I’m here,” Rey stammered.

“Then why are you here?”

“I was looking for the Resistance.” The man scoffed.

“Well, you found the base, but what about the rest of the Resistance? You said that you were a scavenger. What about the kid?” Rey was silent.

“Listen, kid. It’s usually not the best idea to play games with the guy who has a gun to your head. Trust me, I speak from experience.” Rey took a breath before replying.

“I met BeBe when I came here. She was left behind when the Resistance evacuated.”

“Evacuated? Where to?”

“I don’t know, neither does BeBe. I was hoping that I could find evacuation plans and the like.” The man laughed before lowering his gun. Rey let out a breath. She heard BeBe’s pattering footsteps as she ran to Rey’s side, hugging her waist tightly.

“What’s your name, kid?” The man asked.

“My name’s Rey. I think I should ask you who you are.” The man let out a soft laugh.

“The name’s Han Solo. That walking carpet back there is Chewie,” he said, nodding to the large man.

“Han Solo? The Rebellion general?” asked BeBe, her eyes alight. The man huffed softly, and Rey was vaguely reminded of Kylo.

_Stop thinking about him, Rey._

“Kid, I haven’t been involved in any of that for some time. It’s best you two head out of here.”

“Wait, why were you here if you haven’t been involved in it?” Rey questioned.

“I just… wanted to check up on things, that’s all.”

“Well, if you’re close enough to the Resistance to check up on things, do you have an idea of where they could’ve gone to?”

“What’s so important that you have to get to the Resistance, anyway?” Rey glanced quickly at Bebe.

“We have a file which contains some…important information,” Rey answered

“What kind of important information?”

“Life saving information. Information concerning the virus. We need to get it to Luke Skywalker.” Han’s eyes widened before quickly relaxing to a neutral expression once more.

“Luke… I haven’t seen him in years.”

“You knew him?” BeBe probed.

“Yeah, I knew Luke,” said Han with a smirk.

“I’ll tell you what, kid. I know the location of a Resistance base. I don’t know if it’s where the former inhabitants of this lovely place went off to, but it’s the Resistance.”

“Where is it?”

“About one hundred miles south.”

“One hundred miles?! That’d take days to get there!” Rey exclaimed. Chewie voiced something in an unknown language, completely incomprehensible to Rey. Han groaned.

“Alright, we’ll take you,” Han said, resigned.

“How?” asked Rey.

“Ever flown in a helicopter before?”

BeBe grinned from ear to ear.

…

He was leaning against a stainless-steel counter in a cold, sterile room. A petite woman in a grey jumpsuit stood with her arms crossed, listening intently to a bearded man wearing a long white coat.

“I need the original sample, otherwise I can’t produce a vaccine,” said the bearded man. “But even if we were able to find when and where it started, the zombie would likely be decomposed by now. As the virus advances, it requires more and more flesh to sustain the body. The amount of flesh needed to feed it would be massive.”

“But what if it is out there?” challenged the woman. “It’s not unheard of for stronger and more intelligent zombies to enslave the weaker and create a nest.”

“That’s true, but after this long, it would require dozens of bodies each _day_ just to keep itself moving. The likelihood of it being out there is slim to none.” the man explained.

“So we track down the nests,” Kylo heard his own voice say. “We narrow it down to see where the outbreak first started, and we scout for the biggest nests in the area. We get the alphas and see which one matches the criteria, and hope we find the right one.”

“Ben, what you’re proposing is incredibly dangerous. To enter the nests is suicide,” exclaimed the man, with wide eyes and furrowed brows.

“So we flush them out and pick them off from afar as they scatter. This is the best chance we’ve had in years, and we can’t afford to throw it away because we’re scared,” Kylo argued.

“Though I can’t say I approve of the tone,” the woman said, giving Kylo a sharp look. “Ben’s right. This is our only hope.”

…

Kylo was being dragged through the sand. The sun was high in the sky and he was vaguely aware of the smell of putrid flesh. He hoped it wasn’t him. He looked forward slightly to see that a member of the horde, a skinny thing, nearly as pale as Snoke with tufts of ginger hair was pulling him by the ankle.

_Hux. Oh, great. Just who I wanted to see. I can't even die in peace._

He sluggishly began to realize where he was and what was happening. It turned out that he didn’t have to make the decision of which way to die, Snoke had tracked him down and chosen it for him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who gives kudos and comments, it's so encouraging. I honestly don't think I would've been able to make it this far into the story without you guys <3.

BeBe was thrilled at the idea of riding in a helicopter. However, she was significantly less enthused at the prospect of trekking through the hot dessert to actually get to the helicopter. The landing pad at the Resistance base was buried under debris, making landing impossible. So, Han and Chewie had decided to land in a rocky area just above Kelvin Ravine, where they would be safe from sinking in the shifting sand and relatively away from scavengers. Away from people like Rey.

“Quit complaining, kid,” Han scolded at BeBe’s whining. “It’s not like we had a welcome party at the Resistance base. Hell, we didn’t even have a place to land, the landing pad was covered in crap.”

BeBe was quiet after that, however it did not stop her from pouting as they marched through the scorching heat. The base was perched above the ravine, with the eastern side of the wall looking out over the expanse. The canyon was massive; at its widest point, it was eighteen miles wide and over a mile deep. Surrounding the gorge was a rocky area, the only part of the wastes which was not a fine sand.

Over a mile out, along the path, was the helicopter. As it happened, Han and Chewie had arrived before Rey had, but the time it took to find a suitable spot to land combined with the time it took to walk to the base delayed their arrival. BeBe’s normally pale face began to turn bright red, and she soon began to complain of feeling sick to her stomach.

“It’s probably just the heat, BeBe. We’ll be at the helicopter and get you some water in a couple of minutes,” said Rey. BeBe quieted only momentarily before she started to whine about a nasty smell. Rey was just about to turn around and tell BeBe to shut her mouth and quit complaining, when the wind picked up over the gorge. The smell of rotting flesh soon pervaded the area, causing Rey to gag. Zombies.

All but BeBe (whose rifle had been confiscated by Chewie) drew their weapons. The base had been attacked by a horde of hundreds, and considering that there were relatively few remaining at the base, it was very likely that hundreds of undead were wandering the dessert at this very moment.

“C’mon, let’s get to the Falcon before we run across any undead,” announced Han, eyes darting around. Chewie stood at the edge of the ravine, staring down.

“Chewie, what’re you doing? Let’s go!” Chewie grunted something and waved Han over. As Rey approached the side of the gorge, she let out a gasp. Hundreds upon hundreds of feet down, was a sea of rotting bodies. They milled about aimlessly, occasionally attempting to gnaw on a rock or maybe one of their own. At one point a vulture swooped to the ground, attempting to make its meal of the decomposing flesh, only to be grabbed by its wings and torn to shreds by the horde.

BeBe dashed forward to see what all the fuss was about. The crumbling rocks fell beneath her feet.

“BEBE!” Rey shrieked as she bolted forwards. BeBe had fallen down several feet, but managed to grab onto a rock which jutted out from the canyon wall. The zombies below, finished with the vulture directed their attention to BeBe, a substantially more interesting prey.

Their moans echoed throughout the canyon, and they began to claw at the steep rock. BeBe started to cry, her body shaking and sweaty hands slipping from her ledge. Without thinking, Rey swung her legs over the side and began to climb down, her intuition guiding her movements after years of climbing in order to scavenge. Rey heard Han and Chewie shout something as she crawled down.

Rey shimmied closer to BeBe, breathing heavily from a cocktail of injuries, heat, and terror. Rey had retrieved many things from cliffs like this, but her loot was never a living person, who she couldn’t retrieve if she dropped. 

_I can do this. I can do this._

“When I give the signal, climb onto my back,” Rey commanded. BeBe gave her a wide-eyed look before nodding. As Rey came closer, BeBe’s grip began to weaken and slip. Her legs dangled in the air, desperately searching for any place to give her traction.

The zombie’s moans soon turned into shrieks as they slammed against one another, fighting to climb the wall. One zombie, particularly strong, broke away from the crowd and began to climb. Its body moved unnaturally fast, and its aversion to pain gave it an advantage as it dug its bony fingers into the crumbling rock.

Finally, Rey reached BeBe.

“CLIMB ON!” She shouted. BeBe simply stared at her, completely petrified. Panic rose in Rey’s chest.

“I said climb on, BeBe!” Rey desperately cried. Of all of the times BeBe could’ve chosen to be obstinate, she had to choose when they were dangling off a cliff above a swarm of undead. Well, at least if they fell they’d be dead before being eaten.

Just as Rey reached out to grab BeBe, the rock broke. With a scream, BeBe fell. Her body slid down the wall and landed on a ledge. Rey had no time to be relieved as a zombie roared and scurried towards the little girl.

Rey slid down the canyon as best she could. She was around ten feet above the ledge when she dropped down, her bruised body in agony. Rey groaned, but grit her teeth and continued in her rescue.

She crawled towards BeBe, checking her injuries. She was unconscious, but her heart was beating and her lungs were breathing. Rey tried to sling the girl over her back, but she was unable to climb and hold onto BeBe at the same time. She laid BeBe down as gently as she could before calling up to Han and Chewie. She shouted until her voice was hoarse, but there was no reply.

_They left. Oh, God. Oh, God._

She grabbed BeBe by the shoulders and tried to shake her awake. BeBe simply groaned.

“C’mon, BeBe, I need you to wake up,” Rey pleaded.

With a shriek, the lone zombie pulled itself over the ledge. Rey pulled out her staff, and swung at the zombie’s face. With a sickening crack, its lower jaw came unhinged, its rotting maw dangling open. It lunged forwards, swinging its bloodied hands at her. Rey dodged, and nearly fell off the shelf. She regained her balance, and sprang towards the beast. At the last second, she slipped behind it and shoved it forwards with her staff. It slid off the edge, holding on by mangled fingers. She hit its hands with her staff, breaking them into a pulp before it finally released its grip and plunged to the ground.

Her victory was short lived as others soon began to follow its example. Dozens of zombies began to scale the canyon, only to be pushed off by the stronger and more agile. There was no way out. It was difficult to fight off just one zombie in her condition, never mind dozens. She shut her eyes and sunk to the ground.

_I’m so sorry, BeBe. I failed you and the Resistance._

Her sorrow was interrupted the distinct sound of helicopter blades. She opened her eyes and looked up to see none other than Han and Chewie, in what looked like a flying tin can with the words Millennium Falcon painted on the side. They slowly descended into the canyon, the whirling blades creating wind all around them. From the cargo compartment, Chewie used BeBe’s rifle to pick off zombies climbing the wall.

The helicopter gradually lowered enough that it was level with the edge. Using all of her remaining strength, Rey lifted BeBe in her arms before passing her to Chewie. Rey had just managed to climb into the Falcon before collapsing of exhaustion.

The last thing she remembered was Chewie pulling headphones over her ears and flying out of the canyon before she passed out.

…

When Rey awoke, she was miles above ground. She was in the cargo hold of the helicopter, lying on the floor atop of several soft wool blankets. BeBe was snuggled up next to her, covered in bandages, with an icepack strapped to her head.

_It’s a shame she’s not awake; she seemed so excited to fly._

Rey slowly sat up. The past two days had taken a toll on her body. With the adrenaline worn off, she was hyper aware of every bruise on her body. Her neck was sore and stiff, her hands were raw from climbing, and her legs were so worn out, she felt that she’d likely collapse if she were to stand on them.

In the cockpit were Han and Chewie. Their mouths were moving, and they would occasionally give each other an angry glance. They were obviously arguing about something, but between the noise of the helicopter and the earphones, she couldn’t make out what they were arguing about.

A voice, crackling from static appeared in her ear.

“Are you alright back there?” Came Han’s voice from her ear phones. Rey’s hand reached for the microphone on her headset.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Rey said. “How far away are we from the Resistance?” She added.

“Not far. We’ll be there in an hour or so, just hang tight.”

An hour. In one hour, she would be at the Resistance. She would be the farthest from the wastes that she’d ever been in years. Her heart beat rapidly at the thought.

_What if my parent come back while I’m gone? How will I get back? Oh, God, I shouldn’t have come. I should’ve left BeBe with Han and Chewie. I need to go back. I need to go back. I need to-_

Rey took a deep breath and collected herself. If her parents hadn’t returned in fifteen years, what made her think they’d return within the next couple of days?

With nothing else to do besides worry, Rey began to think of what became of Kylo. Did he ever find his way out of the dessert? Did he die, as in actually die? Or did he become one of those ravenous beasts in the ravine. She shuddered at the thought.

He was rude, sarcastic, and stubborn, but he’d taken care of her. He’d stayed by her side and protected her when no one else ever had. But he’d also lied to her. He deceived her. He’d even gone as far as to _eat her fucking ration bars_ , which she spent hours working for. Rey had been deceived plenty of times in her life. By junk bosses, other scavengers, and after fifteen years she was beginning to accept that her parents lied to her too. But this stung worse. Maybe it was because with scavengers and junk bosses, it was a matter of survival. Everyone was looking out for themselves. But Kylo, she cared for him. And he’d betrayed her.

But _why_ had he lied? He’d had hundreds of opportunities to eat her, if that was his goal. None of it made any sense. The only rational reason she could think of was if maybe he-

_No, he couldn’t have cared about me. Zombies don’t care about people._

_Do they?_

_If the drug treats zombies, lessens their symptoms, what would it do to one as high-functioning as Kylo? And maybe, maybe they could make a cure. We could be together again._

She shook her head, only for pain to jolt through her neck.

What was she thinking? She’d known him for a week and the last time she saw him she’d attacked him, and then kicked him out into the dessert. She didn’t even know if she could find him again, much less convince him to stay with her.

Rey sighed. She had more important things to do than worry about being lonely, like resting, for example. She laid back down on her pile of blankets and decided to sleep until she arrived at the Resistance.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry that I took so long to post this; there's been a lot going on in my life. Thank you so much to everyone who gives kudos and encouragement. I probably sound like a broken record, but I love every bit of support I get.

“Wake up, kid; we’re getting ready to land,” said Han through the headset. Rey groggily sat up. She felt better now that she had rested, but she was hungry and her body was still horribly sore. She reached into her satchel to find a ration bar, only to remember she had given her last one to BeBe.

She pulled the USB out of the satchel instead. She simply stared at it, analyzing its nondescript features. It seemed so small and insignificant, what would've happened if she hadn't thought to bring it to the Resistance? More importantly, what _will_ happen now that she has? Rey couldn’t imagine a world without zombies. What would it be like? Would the broken cities be rebuilt? Would the Resistance form a government? Would the world go back to the amazing civilizations she’d only heard of? Would people want to go back?

She shoved her thoughts aside along with the USB. She was just a scavenger; it wasn’t her job to save the world. Well, it wasn't supposed to be. But here she was, currently delivering information that could lead to a cure, information that could save millions, if not billions of lives.

_Just a scavenger._

Han’s voice came from her headphones. “Hold on to BeBe, and get her ready to be carried out.”

Rey strapped her satchel over her shoulders and scooched over to BeBe, holding her head in her lap. The helicopter slowly began to descend, and Rey felt her stomach rise to her throat. The helicopter moved lower and lower until it hit the ground with a slight thump. The helicopters blades began to slow, and Rey removed her headphones.

Within an instant, the doors to the cargo bay in which she and BeBe resided were flung open, revealing blindingly bright sunlight obscured by indistinguishable faces in military fatigues. Rey grabbed BeBe underneath her shoulders and dragged her to the doors. Immediately, BeBe was taken from her arms and placed on a gurney. BeBe reached out her hand and gave a soft groan.

“Rey,” she said softly. Scampering to her feet, Rey pulled the USB out of her bag, tossed it to a somewhat horrified looking Han, and followed after the gurney. She pushed aside the swarm of medics, much to their chagrin, and held BeBe’s hand as they walked to the hospital on base.

The stretcher was pushed through a set of double doors and Rey was immersed by the smell of sanitized air. The building was composed of clean white tile and sparkling stainless steel, designed for practicality and kept sterile. All around her were people wearing white scrubs with latex gloves covering their hands, hardly paying her any mind as they pushed past her to fulfill their duties. A kind looking woman wearing a lab coat grabbed her by the shoulder as BeBe was pushed into another room.

“I’m terribly sorry, patients and doctors only. I’ll let you know when you can see her. There’s a waiting room just down the hall.” While kind, the woman’s firm tone gave no room for arguments. It was a rehearsed tone and choice of words, the words of someone who had separated the wounded from the worried far too many times.

“Or maybe,” said the woman, concerned after seeing the bruises which flowered on Rey’s body. “You should head to see if there’s a nurse who’s free, get yourself checked out.”

Rey assured the doctor she was fine and thanked her before slowly turning on her heels and leaving the woman. Instead of going to the waiting room, she headed out to the Falcon, which was currently surrounded by people.

Han and Chewie stood outside of it, overwhelmed by the questioning crowd. Rey was pushing her way through the clot of people when a woman’s voice rose from behind the crowd.

“Everyone clear out of the area, I need to speak to our visitor,” commanded the voice. The various people began to clear the area, obeying the directions without hesitation, although slightly disappointed. Rey did not share the same compliance. She gave Han a questioning look, which he completely ignored as he stared at the woman with an odd look on his face. His mouth looked like a smirk, but his eyes seemed sad. Chewie waved his hand and grunted her away.

Rey obliged. She began to walk away towards the hospital; an ice pack and some ration bars would not be amiss. As she walked away, she turned her head over her shoulder, just for a second, to see Han and the woman in a stiff exchange while Chewie went to do something on the Falcon.

Han had said he left the Resistance years ago; I can see it being quite awkward for everyone involved for him to show up out of the blue.

Rey knew she shouldn’t make assumptions, but she still had to wonder why he had left, and what had he been doing since? She knew that he was a smuggler before joining, maybe that was what he did now. It’d explain the need for a helicopter, it’s not like he picked up scavengers from the wastes on routine.

Rey strode in to the hospital, dodging the charge of the nurses and doctors as they ran to and fro. She wandered through the halls before finally coming to a room simply labeled “waiting room” in bold letters. She pushed through the door and looked around. The room was much like the rest of the hospital in that it had plan tile floors and a generally sterile appearance. It differed in the fact that instead of the bustle of doctors and the beeping of machines, it was strangely quiet. The room had uncomfortable looking chair along the walls, and in the center of the room was a circular desk attended by a single nurse. Besides the nurse and herself were one or two haggard people here and there, most wearing crumpled clothes and worried expressions. No one spoke.

Rey walked tentatively up to the desk, and searched for the right words before she spoke, almost afraid to break the silence. She had just opened her mouth to speak when the nurse looked up from her work and broke the silence for her.

“Are you waiting for a family member, sweetheart?”

“No, just a friend. But I was wondering if there was a place where I could grab some ration bars and a place to rest for a bit.” The nurse gave her an odd look.

“Not many people actually ask for ration bars, but we have plenty,” she said, bending under her desk before giving a handful to Rey. Rey’s eyes went wide, but she quickly schooled her features. There was no reason to be obvious; she didn’t want anyone’s pity.

“Go out those doors and down the hall. The third door on the left has some bunks for family of patients. Nothing fancy, but better than a chair.” Rey gave the woman a smile and thanked her as she walked out, shoving the ration bars into her satchel.

When Rey arrived at the room, she pushed the door open softly, not wishing to disturb anyone. She quickly surveyed the room, bunk beds lined the walls. Thin blankets and pillows with protective lining were the only adornments to the room. The room was illuminated by incandescent bulbs in sturdy overhead fixtures. No people.

Rey chose a bunk in the corner of the room. Though she initially was going to choose the top, out of survival instinct to be up high, she decided she’d had enough climbing to last her a while and took the bottom instead.

She let out a pleased sound as she sank into the mattress. While the nurse claimed it was nothing fancy, it was the most comfortable bed she’d ever slept on. Lying on her side, she pulled a ration bar out of her satchel and ate leisurely. For once, she could take her time.

While she contentedly drifted in and out of napping, a harsh buzzing sound jolted her out of her leisure. She sat up and looked around confused, before realizing it was coming from her satchel. She reached into her bag and pulled out her radio.

_So now it decides to work?_

She turned down the volume and laid on her back, absentmindedly flipping through the frequencies. It was mainly just the chatter of the base, but every so often she would hear the signal of a community. She continued flipping through when something struck her, music.

A man’s deep, melodic voice sang words of love while the strings of some instrument played in the background.

_A guitar._

She’d heard this song before. It was when she had fixed the radio with Kylo. He said it was a guitar playing in the background. He’d seemed confused that he knew it, and considering his undead status it wasn’t a mystery as to why.

But still, this was the first song she could remember hearing. It was full of static, even after the modifications done to the radio. It had likely been recorded decades ago, before the virus had even struck.

When she had first heard it with Kylo, she sat transfixed, and let herself be lulled by the man’s voice. She found herself humming along as Kylo sat quietly beside her, simply observing.

_“But I can’t help falling in love with you…”_

Rey let out a quiet sob before switching off the radio and falling back to sleep.

…

Rey awoken groggily, completely disoriented in her new surroundings. It took her a moment before remembering that she was at the Resistance base, hundreds of miles from home. Her mission was complete. She’d returned the USB and rescued BeBe. It was time to go back to the wastes. To be alone.

She sat up and pulled her satchel across her shoulders. She needed to leave. Maybe she could get Han and Chewie to fly her back to the dessert. She’d go back to scavenging the way she always had. She’d played her part.

_Maybe I could join the Resistance; I could repair machines. I could help save society or whatnot. There isn’t anything left in the dessert, and here I wouldn’t have to be alone._

She wouldn’t have to be alone. She knew in her heart that it was completely selfish. Rey knew she wasn’t a hero and she’d never pretended to be. She didn’t give a damn about the hope for humanity; she just wanted her family back.

This could wait.

She instinctively reached for her staff, only to remember that it was left on the helicopter during the commotion of arriving. With a sigh, she started to head through the labyrinthine hallways of the hospital. She would’ve missed the waiting room through the sea of identical doors had a doctor not barged through it as she was walking by.

Rey jumped back, narrowly avoiding collision with the doctor. Vaguely, she recalled that it was the same doctor who’d greeted her before.

“Hello,” said the doctor. “Rey, is it?” Rey barely had time to nod her head before the doctor spoke again.

“Now that BeBe’s healed up a bit, General Organa would like to speak with you both.” Rey drew in a deep breath.

 _General Organa?_ The _General Organa?_

“Follow me,” commanded the doctor before briskly walking through the maze of hallways.

Grey door after grey door went by before coming to a sudden halt. The doctor pushed the door in slowly, and pushed her head in.

“General, I have Rey with me.”

“Thank you, doctor Kalonia. Bring her in,” said a firm but kind voice. The doctor-doctor Kalonia-pushed the door open wider before gesturing towards Rey to enter. Hesitantly, Rey went through the door and into brightly lit room.

In the center of the room was a hospital bed in which BeBe laid asleep, bruised and covered in bandages, but alive and safe. Next to the bed were two hard plastic chairs, one inhabited by a petite woman with greying brown hair in an elaborate up-do. Her face had fine lines, from both worry and smiles. A kind face, the kind Rey often imagined her mother would have.

“Have a seat, Rey,” said the woman. “I’m General Organa, but most people just call me Leia.” Rey stood wide eyed for a half second.

Stumbling slightly, Rey took the chair next to the general, shifting in her seat and pulling at her dessert garb.

“BeBe tells me great things about you,” said the General, causing Rey to flush slightly. “She says that not only did you find the USB and track us down, but you also saved her life. I must thank you for all that you’ve done; you’ve saved more lives than you could possibly comprehend.” Rey’s slight flush turned into a full out embarrassed blush at the praise.

“I just did what I thought was right, General.” The General simply smiled.

“Tell me something, Rey, how did you come across this USB? BeBe says, and I quote, “you found it under your bed.”” Rey looked down slightly.

“That may have been a bit of an exaggeration,” Rey explained. “I live in the wastes and I just came across it at the Resistance base and figured it might be important.” General Organa gave her a skeptical look, but said nothing.

“Are you aware of what’s on this USB?” asked the general in a cautious tone.

“BeBe said that it was a remedy for the virus. Not exactly a cure, but a treatment of a kind.”

“She was right when she said that it wasn’t a cure, at least not yet. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to accurately test it; what’s on that USB was recovered from years ago, when my brother cured our father.” Rey’s eyes went wide at the revelation. She was about to speak when a cracked voice spoke up, suddenly.

“You’re wrong,” said BeBe. “It has been tried, but we haven’t seen how it works.” Leia’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean, BeBe. How could you have tried it but not seen any results?”

“Well,” said BeBe, shuffling on the hospital bed to sit upright. “San Tekka and I had a dose of it ready; we wanted to test it to see for ourselves to make sure it worked before sending it to Skywalker. When the horde attacked, someone came into the lab. We thought he was a person at first, because he wore long black robes and a mask.” Rey’s breath hitched. Leia gave only a slight glance in her direction before focusing her attention on BeBe once more.

“San Tekka made me hide with the USB in a vent, but the man-I mean the zombie-threatened to send another zombie in after me.” Rey felt herself spacing out.

_No, no, no…_

“We gave him the USB, but on their way out, San Tekka killed one zombie and tried to kill the masked one. The masked zombie was strangling San Tekka, I didn’t know what to do, so I gave him the dose. I tried to find the USB on him, but San Tekka said we didn’t have time.” The world was spinning, and BeBe was starting to cry.

“In the middle of an explosion, I got separated from San Tekka. I got left behind,” BeBe said through harsh breaths. “Is San Tekka alright?” She asked with beseeching eyes. Leia sighed and bowed her head.

“The last I heard, San Tekka and the others were making camp out in the wastes.” Leia replied, reaching out to hold BeBe’s hand in her own. BeBe’s crying began to calm, and she soon began to fade back into sleep. Rey sat stiffly as she watched the exchange, surprisingly maternal.

“Rey,” the General said quietly. “Let’s speak outside.” Swallowing the lump in her throat, Rey rose to follow the General. The General guided to an empty room directly across from BeBe’s.

“Where did you get that USB, and tell the truth this time.” Gone was the maternal, arrived was the feared general.

Chewing on her lip, she began, “I was checking the base for survivors, after the attack. I-I thought I found someone buried under the rubble. He was wearing a helmet, so I thought that-I thought that he was human. I took him back to my home and tried to nurse him back to health. I’d only seen him without his helmet once, and he looked close to death, but I attributed it to being injured.” Rey stopped to take a breath. She looked and saw Leia’s face, still cautious, but softened.

“He was out cold for a while, but I could’ve sworn he was breathing. He tried to escape as soon as he woke up, but I told him he needed to recover. He tried to steal my speeder, but got electrocuted,” Rey almost laughed.

“After that, he stayed with me for about a week. I’d go out to scavenge, and when I got back he’d help me do repairs. Once I came home exhausted and starving. He carried me to my bed and made me drink water and eat. He saved my life, he took care of me,” Rey said, her voice gradually rising in volume and in tempo.

“That night, I asked him to stay next to me, and he did. He even took off his mask. But when I woke up, I couldn’t feel his heartbeat. I thought he’d died. Then he woke up and tried to comfort me, but he still didn’t have a heartbeat. So, I attacked him. And the only time he ever fought back was when I was about to kill him.” Rey felt hot tears running down her face.

“I told him to leave, and he just left. Just like that. He took his mask and wandered out somewhere into the dessert. It wasn’t until later that day when I found the USB under my bed-I wasn’t lying about that. I pieced a few things together and figured out it must belong to the Resistance.”

“I didn’t know what he was, I promise I didn’t know!” Rey sobbed. Leia wrapped her into a hug, giving the same reassurance that she’d witnessed earlier with BeBe.

“It’s alright, Rey. I believe you.” Rey slowly began to gather herself.

Once she was satisfactorily calmed, Leia asked, “I know this seems insensitive, but I need you to tell me everything you can about the zombie-Kylo, you said his name was? He was the only subject to ever have a cure tested on him, and this could prove vital information.” Rey nodded as she took slow, deep breaths.

“When I first brought him home, he cried out in his sleep constantly. He kept screaming for his mother… I think he remembered his family.” Leia took in this information with rapt interest.

“Is there anything else?” Leia asked.

“Not much. There were a few times that I could’ve sworn I heard him breathe, or felt his heartbeat, but I dismissed it after learning about… what he was. There’s quite a few things that are making quite a bit more sense now, you know?” Leia laughed softly.

“You said you saw him without his mask, what did he look like?” Leia asked. “I know this must sound odd, but it’s important to know the level of decomposition reached.” Rey shuddered.

“He was pale, extremely so. His hair was black and very long, and his eyes were gaunt. He just looked like a sick human.” While Rey thought nothing of her description, Leia was looking at her with intense eyes.

"Is there anything else you can tell me?"

Rey thought for a moment.

"Yes, actually," Rey began. "He would cry out in his sleep. Most of it was nonsense, but sometimes he'd call for" Leia went white. 

“What's wrong? Did you know him, before he turned?” Leia simply stared into space.

“Yes,” she whispered. “I think I did.”


End file.
